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Tuesday, May 31, 2016

High Season Launch Day Blitz

I’m delighted to be a part of Forever’s Launch Day Blitz forHIGH SEASON, the first book in
the brand-new Polo Season series presented by Nacho Figueras. As the global face of Ralph Lauren’s Polo Brand
and captain of Argentina’s Black Watch polo team, Nacho is a regular in the
U.S. media as well as the international society pages.

In addition to playing polo, Nacho’s driving passion is to
promote the sport around the world and make it accessible to all — no matter where
they live or how much money they have. Through his modeling campaigns
with Ralph Lauren, co-hosting the annual Veuve Clicquot Polo Classics, and his
work as an ambassador for Sentebale, the
charity founded by Britain’s Prince Harry, Nacho has been quite successful at
sharing his love for all things polo.

His latest project is Nacho Figueras Presents, a line of romance novels
set in Wellington, FL, amid the polo social scene. Nacho and his wife,
Delfina, have been involved in every step of the development of High Season, Wild One,
and Ride Free — known
collectively as The Polo Season Series and written by New York based novelist
Jessica Whitman — ensuring authenticity in every aspect.

At the series’ heart is the wealthy Del Campo polo family, led
by brothers Alejandro and Sebastian, who are trying desperately to keep alive
the winning polo dynasty founded by their recently deceased father. Between the
high-stakes matches, hard riding, and even harder partying, hearts are bound to
get broken.

World-renowned
polo player and global face of Ralph Lauren, Nacho Figueras dives into the
world of scandal and seduction with a new fiction series set in the glamorous,
treacherous world of high-stakes polo competition.

Georgia never wanted to be a jetsetter.
A plain old country vet was fine for her. But one distress call from her best
friend and the next thing she knows she's neck deep in the world of polo's most
elite international players--complete with designer dresses, fine champagne and
some of the most gorgeous thoroughbreds she's ever seen. Some of the most
gorgeous men too...

Alejandro Del Campo needs his team to
win the season's biggest polo tournament or else he's not sure how much longer
they're going to be in business. What he doesn't need is some sassy new vet
telling him how to run his business--and distracting him at every turn. But as
they come closer and closer to the championship match, it soon becomes clear
that Alejandro wants to win Georgia just as much as the tourney trophy. But can
he ever convince her his world is where she truly belongs?

The horse let out a whinny, and Alejandro swore
softly in Spanish. The last thing he wanted to do was wake the entire barn. He
slipped a halter on MacKenzie, the favorite in his current string of ponies,
and led her out of the stables. The moon was bright in the sky as he swung onto
the pony’s bare back. With a snort, she broke into a trot.

Approaching the gatehouse, Alejandro gave the guard
a curt nod. He was determined not to seem furtive riding his own horse on his
own time, but the guard’s professional discretion didn’t disguise his surprise
that Alejandro was taking a pony out at night without a saddle. The Del Campo
family team, La Victoria, had a match tomorrow, and with the odds already
stacked against them, Alejandro knew he should be home in bed, not tiring out
his best pony with a hard-riding midnight outing.

He couldn’t sleep, though. Not yet. It was one of
those nights when the darkness weighed down and his mind raced on. He felt
particularly caged in Wellington. Every last inch of the landscape was tamed.
For all its luxury, he felt trapped by the gated community—his guards and staff
and fleets of grooms—when what he needed was a solitary ride in the wilderness.
That’s why he rode at night, willing to risk the hidden dangers on the dimly
lit paths—the possibility of a shadowed dip in the earth where a hoof could
catch, a nocturnal animal suddenly darting out in front of them and spooking
his pony—in exchange for having the roads to himself. He needed to gallop, skin
to skin, even if only for a short stretch, to lose himself in the strength and
speed of his horse. To reach that soaring, unifying moment that felt less like
riding and more like flying, when he and the horse joined together to become
one seamless beast.

Alejandro turned onto the canal road, leaned
forward, and tightened his thighs—clicking his tongue and murmuring in Spanish
until the pony’s gait smoothed out into a fluid gallop.

MacKenzie picked up speed, responding to his
movements as if she could read his mind. Alejandro smiled. This pony loved to
run. She was one of the few horses who could sustain this kind of pace and
still be in world-class form the next morning. MacKenzie was such a fighter
that she seemed to gain more fire, more heart, with every step she took. He’d
find a role for her in the match tomorrow. She needed the game as much as he
did.

He pressed his legs harder, driving the horse
faster, determined to calm his buzzing mind and push his body until he could
collapse, exhausted. It was practically the only way he could get any sleep
these days.

It didn’t use to be so hard, he thought, slowing to
a canter. He’d always slept like a baby after they won a match, but Lord knows,
those wins were few and far between these days. A few glasses of wine
occasionally worked, but he’d stopped drinking as part of his training, knowing
that even if the alcohol initially brought him relief, he’d be wide awake a few
hours later, eyes on the ceiling, while ghosts and shadows chased through his
brain . . .

He shook his head, wishing for other ways to
exhaust himself.

A string of images flashed through his mind. The
sweet, silken curve of an inner thigh. The beckoning swell between waist and
hip. A flirtatious smile thrown over a naked shoulder, inviting him to take
what he wanted . . .

He swore to himself and rode harder, violently
shutting down this train of thought and replacing it with the simple conviction
he had come to focus on since the death of his wife—he had to win. And in
particular, he had to qualify for and win the biggest game of the season, the
upcoming Carlos Del Campo Memorial Cup, named after his own late father.

In determined pursuit of this goal, Alejandro had
turned to abstinence in this last year, in every sense of the word. He had
given up most earthly pleasures—drinking, women, unnecessary socializing,
anything that could distract him from the game—and channeled all his restless
feelings of grief and anger directly into his training. Spending every spare
moment in the saddle, mercilessly pushing his already hard and athletic body as
close to perfection as he could get, riding until he could barely walk. And
yet, despite his absolute focus on the field, La Victoria had already lost more
games than they had won this season, making a mockery of their name.

Alejandro wanted to blame his other teammates. If
only they would train harder, pay better attention, be willing to sacrifice
more. His younger brother, Sebastian, for example, could barely bother to turn
up for practice most days, much more interested in taking advantage of the
endless parade of polo groupies that were at his beck and call. Rory, the other
young pro on the field, was talented but suggestible, and only too eager to
follow Seb’s party-happy lead. Lord Henderson, the patrón, had once been
a formidable athlete, but a lifetime of hard playing had taken its toll on the
older man, and these days, like many patróns, it was more his ability to
bankroll half of the team’s expenses that secured his place on the field.
Really, when Alejandro thought about it, it was a miracle they ever won a game.

Still, deep down, he knew that, as team captain,
the responsibility for their losses ultimately lay upon his own shoulders. And
that, despite his absolute personal focus and relentless pursuit of the cup, he
was somehow failing them all.

Alejandro kicked his pony on, trying to shake loose
his feelings of uncertainty and loss, to shed them like scales in his wake. The
heavy sound of MacKenzie’s hoofbeats, the dull thump of his own heart pounding,
all resounded as one. Behind them, motes of sand kicked up by MacKenzie’s
hooves briefly danced in the moonlight and sparked a glimmering silver trail.

He rode until his body felt leaden, his muscles
ached, and the sultry Florida air had soaked his shirt all the way through.
Finally, turning for home, he felt the pull of his bed and knew that now he’d
rest and get at least a few hours of sleep before he was up and ready to show
the world his game face again.

About Nacho Figueras:

Figureras Nacho byClaudio Marinesco

Argentine
polo player Ignacio “Nacho” Figueras has become one of the most recognizable
and talented polo players in the world. He is currently the captain and
co-owner of the Black Watch polo team.

In
addition to playing polo, Nacho has been featured as a face of Ralph Lauren and
its Black Watch clothing and watch collection since 2000. In June 2009, he was
voted the second most handsome man in the world by the readers of Vanity Fair
and has appeared on numerous television shows, such as Oprah and Chelsea
Handler.

Nacho
currently splits his time between Miami and Argentina with his wife, Delfina
and their four children, Hilario, Aurora, Artemio, and Alba.

Thanks so much for stopping by today during Forever’s Launch
Day Blitz for HIGH SEASON. Are
you a fan of polo? Have you ever played or wanted to play? Doesn’t it make an intriguing
backdrop for a romance?

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About Me

Hi, I'm Mason Canyon and I love reading and that is why I do reviews. I post them here, as well as several other sites such as Goodreads, Amazon and Barnes & Noble. If you are an author who would like for me to review your book or you would like to guest blog here, please contact me at mcbookshelf@gmail.com These reviews are done for the love of a good book, not for monetary rewards.